Tuesday, 21 February 2012

Nah jokes, you're not in trouble, I love you guys. Now normally I don't succumb to the will of PR people but in this instance I'm totally happy to give the Playground Weekender gang a mad plug because the lineup is bonkers and I can't wait to go. HEAR MY BELLOWING BARITONE BLOG VOICE: GO FORTH MY BRETHREN, TASTE THE WEEKEND'S SWEETNESS, SWIM IN THE MUSICAL OASIS OF DISCO BEAT GOODNESS. See?

BUT, my dear friends, this plug is not the end of it -- oh no, quite the contrary. I have a double pass to give away to one of you wonderful disco-loving creatures*. This overwhelmingly great prize includes musical performances by artists like Chic & Nile Rodgers, Hudson Mohawk, Greg Wilson, Damian Lazarus & a bunch of Crosstown Rebels bros, Lee Burridge, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti and a ballsackful more for you and a friend/partner/sibling/mum to enjoy. You could even bring your uncle to see UNKLE, how much of a mind-fuck would that be!

The method of entering this prestigious draw is very simple: send me an email and let me know in 6,000 words or less** either:

a) What you consider to be the most important advancement in biomolecular science in the past 24 months; or
b) What is your favourite ever cat video and why

If you don't win, seriously just get a ticket to the festival anyway - like I said, I hate plugging shit on here, but it truly will be sensational.

*Obviously if you don't live in Sydney this is probably not particularly relevant, unless you're keen to do some travelling. Which you should be. I'll buy you a beer if you do.
**Word limit will be strictly upheld, all entries in excess of 6,000 words will be disqualified. Sorry.

-------------------------------------------------

Also I got some musix for ya, starting with this marvellous Bob Chance reissue by the dawgs at Emotional Rescue. Two versions of one great tune remastered and plopped onto a 7" with a snazzy printed sleeve. The A-side, an earlier and lesser-heard cut of It's Broken, is a raw jamming psych groove with steel-woolly vocals and four-to-the-floor drums + bass. I love this and I'm glad it's been uncovered and released in such a respectful way (it's all legit, don't worry yo).

This Katzuma record slipped through my fingers so many times before it was finally in stock when I was placing an order. Put your casual collared shirts on gents, we're going to a nice bar to be charming - this record is crammed with cocktail class. It's a bit Dimitri From Paris really, completely non-threatening funky dance music that lifts the mood wherever it's played. QUALITY! Essential warm-up material. Crucial rooftop fodder. Critical Sunday vibes. Don't even think about going to a swish bar without it. Yeahhhhh.

Although in any other context I totally wouldn't expect it from him, after hearing the two great A-side tracks of this Hardway Brothers record, the thumping bass drum and ominous chimes at the beginning of this Toby Tobias remix had me anticipating another dark, abrasive number. What emerges is an utterly euphoric rainbow of dreamlike synth flavours and sparkly effects which send you straight into interstellar pleasure mode. What a joy! I can imagine this being a late night life-changer on the dance floor. Don't get me wrong, the rest of the release is excellent as well, but this one is, for me, really something special. Hope you guys dig it too.

Tuesday, 7 February 2012

Don't panic everybody. I'm back. I've got an inconsistently speedy internet connection, a pocket full of dreams and disco musix for the masses. Let's get some HD cat videos up in this mo'fucker! I've kind of forgotten how to blog so I'll stall for a bit. What's been happening with you cats? Working hard and drinking harder? Gosh, I sure can empathise with that one. No but seriously, let's get down to business.

I'll start off with a couple of things that I wanted to put into that last Delishcast and, in the end, just couldn't quite adapt into the whole thing. I was especially keen to put in a track from Pacific Ocean Blue by Dennis Wilson (you know, that guy who played drums in The Beach Boys) which is just a top notch album. I particularly love the rugged groove of Dreamer, a nice gruff love song with some sort of air-operated low range instrument that I can't for the life of me identify. Also was pretty keen to get a Neoton Familia tune in there but couldn't quite get one to gel. The organ in Oh, Napsugar is rad.

Now back to that usual disco shit that I love to peddle. Did you all hear there's a new Moodymann album due in May? I've already gouged my eyeballs out in excitement (not recommended) and naturally I've been on a non-stop KDJ cruise in my bedroom for the past couple of days. Well this isn't Moody, but it's close - The Rotating Assembly, a band headed by Theo Parrish that features Marcellus Pittman and Rick Wilhite amongst others, is totally jammerific. They only did one album back in '04 which is a bummer, but it's an eternal beaut. Properly hot live funk with the odd twist of Detroit techno. Right on, sister.

I was way happy to see that the first Try To Find Me record got reissued and I had a chance to pick up a copy. Until now I've only had the digital which means it was lost in the iTunes abyss many moons ago. Justin Vandervolgen has an unnaturally marvellous talent for doing great edits, and Golf Channel have an equally commendable knack for putting out great records, so it's an obvious winner just like it was when it got released back in 2008. Throw in a J.C. Barreto song and one of the all time greatest track names and hey presto, you've got a shit hot 12". Bravo.

I've got a box of 13 records arriving on my doorstep later this week so stick around chumps. If you're out and about this weekend, we're putting on a show with Space Dimension Controller down at The Civic: all the info is here.